Match-box



S N I G G I H L O a d 0 M m MATCH BOX.

No. 553,080. Patented Jan l l, 1896.

NVENTOR WlTN ESSES AN DREW a GRAHAM. PHGTO'UTHD, WASHINGIDILQ C UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

CHARLES L. HIGGINS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

MATCH-BOX.

STEECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,030, dated January 14, 1896.

Application filed April 17, 1895. Slerial No. 546,022. (No model.)

To (055 whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of IIampden and State of lllassachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Match-Boxes Combined with other Pocket Instruments; and I have set forth my invention in the following specification and accompanying drawings.

My invention relates particularly to improvements in pocket instruments of the most common use; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple, complete, compact, neat and conven ient device possessing in a single implement all the advantages which hitherto each separate instrument has possessed, besides many advantages not before possessed by such instruments.

Hitherto the pocket instruments which nearly every gentleman is accustomed to carry about with him and to use almost daily-.viz., match-box, cigar-cutter, corkscrew and callwhistle-have been constructed separately and. each without due regard to compactness, neatness and convenience. In my invention I construct all these separate instruments in one single compact and complete implement embodying in a high degree simplicity, convenience and neatness and producing a device which is adapted to take the place heretofore supplied by several separate and cumbersome instruments, which lumber up and wear out the pockets, which are easily lost, and which, were they not combined in this compact and complete form, would be forgotten and mislaid by the busy man and not be conveniently at hand when needed.

The objects of my invention are accomplished by means of the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate like parts, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device closed, as carried in the pocket; Fig. 2, a sectional view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a sectional view on the line a a of Fig. 2, showing the cover closed; Fig. l, a view similar to Fig. 3, but

showing the cover open; and Fig. 5 a sectional view on the line b b of Fig. 2.

The device is in size and appearance similar to the ordinary matchbox and is preferably made of two pieces of tubing 1 2, soldered, brazed or otherwise secured together, as at 3, and provided at the lower end with a bottom at soldered or brazed to the tubes 1 and 2. The upper end is provided with a cover 5 struck up from sheet metal and shaped as shown, with smooth rounded edges and corners.

The cover or lid is hinged at G to the tube 2, the hinge in this case being formed of integral extensions of the tube and cover joined by a pin. Opposite the hinge is located a spring-catch 7 fixed to the upper part of the tube 1 and provided with a lug working in the opening 8 in the cover, and also having a lug 9, extending through an opening in the tube 1, by which to release the catch. An integral projection 10 extends upward from the tube 1 into a corresponding notch in the cover, in order that said cover may be properly and securely held in place.

At the other end of the device is secured by solder or otherwise the end piece 11, shaped similarly to the cover 5, but with portions cut awayat 12 and 13 for the admission and escape of air, respectively, to a callwhistle comprising this end piece, the bridge 11, and the bottom piece 4 to which the bridge is secured.

Inside the barrel or tube 1 is arranged a cigar-cutter, adapted to be operated by the cover and a spring, as presently described. In the tube 1 near its upper end is provided acircular opening into which the end of a cigar is inserted when it is desired to cut it off.

Upon the inside of the tube and adjacent to the opening 15 is secured a plate 16, preferably provided with a knife edge 17 in juxtaposition with the lower half of the circular opening 15. This edge may be formed as a knife edge or not, but in the latter case the cutting is done entirely by the knife edge 19 of the plate 18, to be presently described.

The plate 18 is adaptedto slide on the plate 16, and is guided by lugs 20,.sliding in slots 21 which may be cut to the end of the tube, as shown in dotted lines, or not quite to the end, as shown in full lines, depending upon whether the spring 25 is or is not secured to the bottom 4:. The plate 18 is provided with a circular opening 22 of as great a diameter as that of the opening 15; The upper edge of this opening is formed as a knife edge 19, which, in conjunction with the edge 17, is adapted to cut off the end of a cigar. If desired, the plate 16 may be dispensed with and the plate 18 curved and adapted to work in conjunction with the opening 15 in the tube 1. The lower end of the plate 18 is turned at right angles to form a foot 21 which rests on and is secured to a spring 25, which is in turn also secured, if preferred, to the inside of the bottom 4.

The spring 25 normally presses the foot and plate upward, forcing the upper edge of the plate into contact with the cross-piece 26 in the cover and thus throwing the cover back when the catch is released, opening the matchbox 27 in the tube 2 and at the same time opening the cigar-cutter. A cigar may then be inserted in the opening 15, and when the cover is closed the end will be cut OE and will fall into the tube 1. The tube 1 is also provided with a corkscrew which is hinged in the tube by being bent at one end around a pin 29 secured across the tube 1. An elongated aperture 30 is formed in the side of the tube to permit the corkscrew to be opened out at right angles to the tube, as shown in Fig. 2.

In order to prevent the corkscrew from folding so far into the tube as to make it inconvenient to be opened readily by the finger a narrow portion of the tube 31 is left across the opening 30.

Aroughened surface 32 is provided upon the tubes where they come together, upon which the matches may be scratched.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pocket device comprising two sections of tubing longitudinally secured together, thus forming two compartments, one of which is adapted to serve as a receptacle for matches and the other provided with a sliding cigar cutter operated by the lid substantially as set forth.

2. In a pocket cigar cutter the combination of a tube, a cover for said tube, a cutting plate longitudinally slidable in said tube and adapted to be actuated by the cover which allows access to the tube substantially as described.

3. In a pocket device, the combination of two tubes longitudinally secured together and provided with a bottom piece, the longitudinally sliding cigar cutter in one of said tubes,

the spring adapted to open said cutter, and the hinged cover adapted to close said cutter. substantially as shown and described.

4. In a pocket device the combination of a tube having a bottom and provided with a circular aperture to admit the end of a cigar, a sliding cutting plate inside the tube, a spring adapted to force the plate upward, and a cover to close the end of the tube and to actuate the plate substantially as described.

5. In a pocket cigar cutter, the combination of a tube closed at one end, a sliding cutting plate in the tube, a spring to actuate the plate in the tube, a cover hinged to the tube to close the tube and cutter, substantially as described.

6. In a pocket device, the combination or two tubes longitudinally secured together and having a bottom, one of said tubes being provided with a circular aperture to admit the end of a cigar, a sliding'plate inside the tube having a similar aperture and provided with a knife edge, a spring adapted to force the plate upward, a hinged cover against which the plate bears and which is adapted to actu ate the plate against the force of the spring and a catch to hold the cover closed against the force of the spring, substantially as shown and described.

7. A compound pocket implement comprising a match box, a cover, and a longitudinally sliding cigar cutter in the box, a spring in the box to open said cutter which also is adapted to open the cover, substantially as set forth.

8. A compound pocket implement comprising two tubes longitudinally secured together provided with bottom and cover and forming two compartments, one or both adapted for holding matches and a cork-screw adapted to fold into one of the tubes when not in use. substantially as shown and described.

9. A compound pocket implement comprising a match box made of two tubes secured together longitudinally and provided with a top and bottom, a cigar-cutter in one of said tubes and a cork-screw foldable into the same tube, substantially as shown and described.

10. A compound pocket implement comprising a match-box made of two tubes lon gitudinally secured together and provided with a top and bottom, a cigar-cutter in one of said tubes, a cork-screw foldable into the same tube and a call-whistle upon one end of the device, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES L. HIGGINS.

Witnesses:

EDWARD MoRRIs, L. B. MORROW. 

